screech owl – The Morning Porch/Patio

Sunday January 21, 2018

Dave Bonta January 21, 2018

Low, gray clouds, and the ground half-brown after a day and night of melting. Over the rumble of my furnace I hear a screech owl trilling.

Dave Bonta November 11, 2017

Bright sun, heavy frost. Down in the hollow, a screech owl calls as persistently as if it were midnight. I take deep breaths of the icy air.

Dave Bonta October 23, 2017

Brighter color between the trees: sunrise. Gray as their trunks: a doe and her grown fawns. From down hollow, a screech owl’s trill.

Dave Bonta September 21, 2014 3

Well after sunrise, a screech owl trilling like the god of tree crickets. I notice that the barberry above the creek is livid with fruit.

Dave Bonta September 2, 2014 1

Dawn is the original thief in the night. Sleepless from a fever, I stare disbelieving at the sky’s stain of light as a screech owl trills.

Dave Bonta November 6, 2010 2

Almost light, and a screech owl still calls from down in the hollow—that sepulchral whinny. One croak of a crow stops it cold.

Dave Bonta September 13, 2010

Ground fog forms at dawn in the bottom corner of the meadow and quickly dissipates. The screech owl’s quaver gives way to soft thrush calls.

Dave Bonta February 23, 2010

Thick fog prolongs the early-morning light for hours. The cardinal sings spring while a screech owl quavers over the luminous snow.

Dave Bonta February 9, 2010

The soft trills of a screech owl an hour before dawn. I sip my coffee as quietly as I can.

Dave Bonta December 22, 2009

A screech owl adds its quaver to the minimal dawn chorus: mourning dove coos, finch and sparrow chirps. Snow and highway noise on the wind.